Container with peelable lid with protection against unauthorized opening

ABSTRACT

With a packaging having a container and a lid peelably sealed onto a flat sealing shoulder of a circumferential container rim, an indentation is formed in a portion of the sealing shoulder thereby creating a cavity covered by the lid, which cavity, after having cut through along a given cut line, is providing a grip portion of the lid as a tear tab for peeling the lid from the sealing shoulder. This lid system is a valuable protection against unauthorized opening and is effective in restraining unauthorized persons from manually opening the package without using a tool.

The invention relates to a packaging having a container and a lidpeelably sealed onto a flat sealing shoulder of a circumferentialcontainer rim.

Higher priced goods, in particular small articles, are in a higherdanger to be stolen. For instance, ink cartridges are usually small andrelatively expensive and hence preferred targets of thefts. The normallyused paper box packaging is easy to open and the content, i.e. the inkcartridge, easy to be stolen.

Counteractive measures lead to packagings which are notconsumer-friendly and to additional expenses in the form of e.g. safetylabels on the packagings.

As a consequence, end consumers often have to buy a packaging whichcannot be opened easily at the place where the product is used, i.e. athome or in the office. Even after the stringent use of mechanicalauxiliary means such as scissors or knives the packagings are difficultto open. Moreover, with the application of resistant plastic materialssuch as A-PET there exists a risk of injury by the opening means itself,or by means of sharp edges of the cut plastic material.

Containers with a lid peelably sealed onto a flat sealing shoulder of acircumferential container rim are well-known as food packaging.Typically the lid is provided with a tear tab for gripping and tearingit from the container rim.

It is an object of the invention is to provide a packaging having acontainer with a peelable lid as mentioned above with a lid system whichdoes not allow easy opening without using a tool.

An other object of the invention is to provide a packaging having acontainer with a peelable lid as mentioned above with a protectionagainst unauthorized opening which is effective in restrainingunauthorized persons to manually open the package without using a tool.

A further object of the invention is to provide a packaging having acontainer with a peelable lid as mentioned above which does not permitthe removal of the packed article at the point of sale without using anopening aid, but enables an easy opening at the point of use by peelingoff the lid after the use of an opening aid such as a pair of scissors.

The foregoing objects are achieved according to the invention in that anindentation is formed in a portion of the sealing shoulder therebycreating a cavity covered by the lid, which cavity, after having cutthrough along a given cut line, is providing a grip portion of the lidas tear tab for peeling the lid from the sealing shoulder.

The lid is sealed onto the sealing shoulder at least along a peripheralsealing border strip.

Preferably the indentation is formed in an edge portion of thecontainer.

The width of the peripheral sealing border strip can be reduced over adistance starting from the cut line to lower the effort needed to startpeeling the lid.

The indentation is preferably formed during forming the container whichcan be thermoformed or cold formed, preferably by deep-drawing, from asheet of a plastic monofilm or laminate, or from a plastic/metallaminate.

The core of the invention is a container with a peelable lid known inthe art, but with a tear tab which is created only after cutting away aportion of the container rim together with the lid sealed thereon usinga tool such as a pair of scissors or a big knife.

The materials used for the container and the lid are strong enough towithstand tearing either manually or using small tools such as a smallknife. On the other hand, an edge of the container rim can easily be cutby the customer at home using a pair of scissors or a bigger knife.Basically every packaging material can be used.

The container can e.g. be thermoformed from a plastic film in the formof a monofilm or a laminate, or the container can be cold formed e.g. bydeep-drawing from a metal/plastic laminate.

The lid material can e.g. be a plastic film, a metal foil, such as analuminum foil, a laminate of a plastic film and a metal foil, aplastic/paper laminate or any other material combination exhibiting therequired

The present invention comprises all shapes of containers that can beproduced with the usual thermoforming and deep-drawing methods.

The main application of the packaging according to the present inventionis the packaging of higher priced, relatively small non-food productssuch as e.g. ink cartridges, batteries, spark plugs, air refresheners,tooth-brushes, etc.

Further advantages, features and details of the invention are revealedin the following description of preferred exemplified embodiments andwith the aid of the drawing which shows schematically in

FIG. 1 a perspective view of a container closed by a lid;

FIG. 2 a view from above on the part of the container shown in FIG. 1offering an opening portion;

FIG. 3 a view from above on the part of the container shown in FIG. 1offering an alternative opening portion;

FIG. 4 an enlarged view of a cross-section of the opening portion shownin FIGS. 2 and 3 cut along line I-I in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 a perspective view of the container shown in FIG. 1 with cut awaypart of the opening portion;

FIG. 6 the container shown in FIG. 5 with the lid partially peeled off.

A container 10 shown in FIG. 1 for receiving non-food articles such asink cartridges, spark plugs or other goods which are to be protectedfrom easily being stolen has a bottom 12 and a sidewall 14 extendingfrom the bottom 12 and defining a cavity for the article to be packed.From bottom 12 the sidewall 14 extends upwards to a circumferentialcontainer rim 16 featuring a flat sealing shoulder 18. A lid 20 closingthe container 10 is peelably sealed onto a peripheral sealing borderstrip 19 of said sealing shoulder 18 by means of a sealing layer 21 in awell-known manner, the sealing border strip 19 having a width b in theorder of e.g. 5 to 10 mm to allow for peeling off the lid 20 withoutexcessive effort.

A portion 22 of the sealing shoulder 18 is broadened so as to receive anindentation 24 forming a closed cavity 26 covered by lid 20 after thelid 20 has been sealed onto sealing shoulder 18.

To open the container 10 by peeling the lid 20 from the sealing shoulder18, a portion of the sealing shoulder 18 with the indentation 24 coveredwith the lid 20 is cut away by means of a pair of scissors along a givenline 28 or within a range between two given parallel lines 28, 28′ asshown in FIGS. 2 and 3. After having cut through the aforementionedportion of the sealing shoulder 18, the previously closed cavity 26 isnow open, thereby providing a gap 30 between a grip portion 32 of lid 20and indentation 24 (FIG. 4, 5).

Gap 30 allows a fingertip to enter the space between lid 20 andindentation 24, clamp the grip portion 32 of lid 20 like a tear tabbetween said fingertip and the thumb and peel off lid 20 from sealingshoulder 18 thereby opening container 10 (FIG. 6).

As shown in FIG. 3, to facilitate peeling off the lid 20 after havingcut away a portion of the sealing shoulder 18, the effort needed tostart peeling may be lowered by reducing the width b of the sealingborder strip 19 over a distance I of e.g. 10 to 20 mm starting from thecut line 28. In addition, the width b of the sealing border strip 19 maybe reduced to be kept outside the rim 25 of indentation 24.

1. A packaging having a container and a lid peelably sealed onto a flat sealing shoulder of a circumferential container rim, wherein an indentation is formed in a portion of the sealing shoulder thereby creating a cavity covered by the lid, which cavity, after having cut through along a given cut line, provides a grip portion of the lid as a tear tab for peeling the lid from the sealing shoulder.
 2. A packaging according to claim 1, wherein the lid is sealed onto the sealing shoulder at least along a peripheral sealing border strip.
 3. A packaging according to claim 1, wherein the indentation is formed in an edge portion of the container.
 4. A packaging according to claim 2, wherein the width (b) of the peripheral sealing border strip is reduced over a distance (I) starting from the cut line to lower the effort needed to start peeling the lid.
 5. A packaging according to claim 1, wherein the indentation is formed during forming of the container.
 6. A packaging according to claim 1, wherein the container is thermoformed or cold formed from a sheet of a plastic monofilm or laminate, or from a plastic/metal laminate.
 7. A method for thief-proof packing a non-food product comprising using a packaging in accordance with claim
 1. 8. A packaging according to claim 1, wherein the container is cold formed by deep-drawing from a metal/plastic laminate. 